If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

First up is the choice between Scald or Surf, Burn or Power. We then have Recover to keep Starmie alive longer so it can Spin/Sweep. Rapid Spin is self explanatory and Ice Beam is for those Pesky Grass and Electric types. You can swap Def for SpAtk if you want to sweep with Starmie (which shouldn't be necessary thanks to a very good base SpAtk of 100) but IMO this set should get the Job done

Last edited by SilverChiko; 29th July 2013 at 8:28 AM.

"Listen, an idol's job isn't to show people their smiles, it is to make people smile. Never forget that!" - Nico Yazawa (Love Live! School Idol Project)

This one is a popular offensive power house that made its mark as a Veteran Survivor. Life orb VS. Choice Specs. What do you need, More KO capabilities, or Move Accessibility? Life orb is my preference for the amazing versatility. But there are times that Choice specs could be your saving grace to bruisen the pokemon that resists your certain attack. The clutch though would be the Choice Scarf (I HATE IT!) pokemon of OU. More Notability for me goes to Celebi herself in terms of Hitting back. In defense, Ferrothorn the Durian Fruit Pokemon to takes Hydro Pumps. Though Ice Beam could give you a 30% chance to drop you down if not careful

Other Options:
Rapid Spin, and Recover Works if you are playing more defensive roles. Sorry but I dunno what would be the best set for the defensive variant. I mean its good on it. But its just ... too frail to playing that role to my eyes. A Donphan or Foretress fare better on that role.

Blizzard is a decent option IF, AND ONLY IF you are fighting with President Obamasnow --er I meant Abomasnow.

Light Screen and Reflect, cute foxy espeon would be this Starfish's ultimate contender in the art of Defensive screening. With the Elusive Latias joining the fray.

Checks/ Counters
-Scizor Could U turn it out cold. But only the scar on works on it. Speed issues for short.
-Jirachi, my favorite legendary with the Calm Mind Sets as it spams Thunder like Zeus with paralysis while it heals itself with paralysis. Though SCald could break or make it for your own starmie on a 1 on1 fight amidst the rain.

Starmie is pretty fast anyways, so I prefer a Modest nature to boost the Sp. Att. Stat. Your focus here is all about power. Hydro Pump gets STAB, Blizzard covers your Grass Type weakness, and gives Starmie a chance at going up against the Dragons. Thunder gives you the edge over some of the bulky Waters you might face.
The last move depends on what your team needs. Psychic gets STAB, but Rain Dance gives Hydro Pump an extra boost as well as giving Thunder 100 accuracy. I personally use Rapid Spin though as it can help me clear entry hazards. Rest is a really good option that I might replace Rapid Spin with. Natural Cure wakes it up on switch out, but your opponents will expect that and your next Pokemon will take some damage as a result.

Stats:
-HP - Below Average - Base 60 HP is the first sign of fragility...
-Attack - Below Average - Base 75 helps Rapid Spin, but not much else...
-Defense - Above Average - Base 85 helps stave off a few hits...
-Sp.Atk - Great - Base 100 is the best thing I've seen so far in this analysis...
-Sp.Def - Above Average - Base 85...yadda yadda yadda...
-Speed - Near-Godly (non-Trick Room) - Base 115 is the new best thing...

Abilities:
-Illuminate - More trash than a PC full of Garbodor...unless you run Skill Swap...
-Natural Cure - Good for staying healthy through Thunder Waves, Spores, Will-o-Wisps, Toxics, and Toxic Spikes...
-Analytic (DW) - Chances are, if you're up against something faster, they have a way of dealing with you outright, especially considering your lack of considerable bulkiness...

Your Movepool is probably the best thing I've seen from a Water Type not evolved from Slowpoke. Compared to most Psychic Types, your options also give them a run for their money. Access to Electric-Type Moves is a huge asset for a Water Type not named Lanturn, but there's quite a variety of butt-kickery at Starmie's disposal. Psychic, Psyshock, Surf, Scald, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon, Signal Beam, Hidden Power, Power Gem, Hydro Pump, and Swift give you a lot of Special options to consider alone. Then there's the rest of the Movepool - lots of fun options like Thunder Wave, Toxic, Rapid Spin, Skill Swap, Gravity, Facade, and Recover. Overall, your versatility makes you unpredictable, which makes you one of the deadliest Pokemon I've seen on the battlefield...

To say that Starmie is an amazing Pokemon is an understatement. Starmie has great speed at base 115, a usable special attack at base 100, a great movepool and ability (Natural Cure), and Rapid Spin. It can also use Trick to cripple foes through items and makes Starmie a very potent Choice Specs user.
Starmie is not without flaws. Base 100 special attack is not much when you look at the other special attackers you have access to (Volcarona, Keldeo, Thundurus-T, and the kicker Latios). Not only that, despite Starmie's numerous options, it's fairly easy to figure out what set it's using. Starmie's Psychic typing is a major curse because it takes heavy damage from Pursuit and U-Turn, which adds to a weakness to Volt Switch. Couple that with an HP stat that sits at a meager base 60 and Starmie won't be hanging around long.

The set is obvious. Rapid Spin to spin the hazards and leech seed away. Hydro Pump is a powerful STAB attack which nails everything that doesn't resist it. Ixe Beam for coverage and some dragons plus Gliscor. Psyshock is the secondary STAB. Or you could use Tbolt for BoltBeam coverage.

Analytic as an ability should be considered for offensive sets. Starmie causes many switches and Analytic gives an additional x 1.3 boost to the attack you selected if the opponent switches. So, if you mispredict, you could actually power through potential counters - especially since Starmie gets near unresisted coverage with Thunder(bolt) + Ice Beam so you could slam the counter with the Super Effective attack straight afterwards.

apart from Blissey. Her fatness is generally too much for Starmie to handle.

Last edited by Razor Shiftry; 28th July 2013 at 7:35 PM.

Beautifly are my Bishie!
hands off or my Beautifly's shall take you away and have their way with you!

Here's an idea that not everyone might have thought of: take advantage of Starmie's high speed combined with its hidden ability Analytic and use it in a Trick Room setting. Because it's so fast, it will most likely go last under Trick Room and so gain the 30% damage boost. It can learn Trick Room itself, or it could have an ally set it up and run Choice Specs to do absurd amounts of damage. Perhaps not so viable due to Starmie's poor HP, but it's the only practical use of Analytic on such a fast Pokemon that I can see (unless Analytic activates when the opponent switches).

Quick Overview:
Starmie has always been what it is, a star. All Generations gave it something nice. Despite its shooting-star Speed stat, Analytic gets one good use I'll mention later on. Natural Cure is nice even in an attacker. Illuminate is good in-game, I guess, for a few purposes...

Look, a shooting Starmie! Quick, make a wish!
-Surf/Hydro Pump/Scald???
-Psyshock
-Ice Beam/Trick (only with Choice item)
-Thunderbolt/Trick (only with Choice item)
Choice Specs or Scarf/Life Orb
Modest goes with any set, Timid only in Specs and Orb
252 SAtk 252 Spe 4 HP
Natural Cure
Quit using Timid outside of Specs or the next set. It's a big power loss. 299 isn't enough. Natural Cure rids you of your #1 enemy, the arch-enemy of all attackers: Paralysis. It also renders bad poison worthless. Choice Trick is a classic one, it ruins most things, especially set-up attackers and defensive Pokémon (yeah, steal their Leftovers). Psyshock over Psychic always, to hit special walls like Blissey. Thunderbolt is a classic one with Starmie, it hits a few threats like Jellicent. Ice Beam, a classic one in Water-types, hit Grass-types and Dragons.

A fast Pokémon that runs Trick Room???
-Trick Room
-Surf/Hydro Pump
-Psyshock
-Thunderbolt/Ice Beam/Recover
Analytic
I need help with EVs and item
Timid???
Yeah, that's it. You go last with your crazy Speed, Analytic boosts your attacks. As you'll be an easy target for slow attackers, Recover is an option.

Other uses
Rapid Spin is a main attraction that faces competition from Analytic and Choice.
You can use it in Rain with Thunder.
Psychic is usable but makes you harmless against Blissey and a few other things.
Grass Knot is usable in Ubers.
Physical is... Worthless.

Basically the same as what others have posted but with a little extra. The water typed STAB has the same Power vs. Accuracy vs. Effect that everyone has mentioned to this point. The other moves, however, vary slightly. First the question of Thunderbolt vs. Thunder and Ice Beam vs. Blizzard is a similar power vs. accuracy question but can also have weather in consideration if you're into rain or hail(like me). Rapid Spin is obviously helpful (especially for hail teams lol) but if that job's covered you can add a Psychic STAB to the mix - Psychic being the stronger while Psyshock can obliterate Special Walls that think they can scare Starmie away(like a certain pink, egg-shaped blob that I take no end in pleasure destroying), also Gravity can make all Starmie's moves have 100% Accuracy so Hydro Pump, Thunder and Blizzard away(thanks to Azulart for the Gravity idea, I'ma try it sometime). Natures come to what you need more, a little more speed or a little more power and abilities can be chosen based on whether you want Starmie to fear not poison nor paralysis (or any other status) with Natural Cure and to catch switching Pokemon for more power or abuse Trick Room with Analytic. (I credit Razor Shiftry and Skyart for the Analytic idea).

Similar choices on the moves as above, but Trick can be used instead of any of the coverage moves to cripple an opponent with a potentially unusable item. Choice of the item is speed vs. power as you can likely guess.

In Doubles, Analytic Starmie can also Skill Swap the ability to an ally that can put it to better use, like say a Scrafty; giving it a much needed power boost and reactivating Scrafty's Intimidate to boot.

Last edited by Silvershark; 29th July 2013 at 12:51 AM.

When it comes down to it, no idea's too Farfetch'd when it comes to building a pokemon team.

Ah, Starmie, One of my favorite pokemon. First used it seriously in Emerald, and have used one every generation since.

Pros: Starmie has all the makings of a special sweeper. Base 100 Special Attack is respectable, while Base 115 Speed is incredibly high. In addition having a move pool comparable to a normal type means Starmie has everything it needs to go on a rampage. With the Bolt-Beam combo, stab Surf/Scald/Hydro Pump, Grass Knot, Flash Cannon and Stab Psychic, the only real failing is the fact that it does not get Focus Blast or Flamethrower. In addition Starmie flourishes in both rain and hail, having access to water attacks, Thunder and Blizzard. On the defensive side, Starmie's defenses are workable with investment. In addition, recover helps it stay alive longer, and natural cure makes Starmie pseudo immune to all statuses. Its support movepool is equally impressive as its special attack move pool including Rapid Spin (!), Dual Screens, Rain Dance, Hail, Thunder Wave and Gravity.

Cons: This star player has been around for a long time and does show some age. Its psychic sub typing does it few favors, trading two extra resistances for three more weaknesses. In addition, it needs investment into defenses to be reasonably bulky, and is unlikely to take hits from the stronger threats lurking in OU even with the defense investment. Outside of Cosmic Power and evasion buffs, Starmie has no way to boost itself outside of items and baton pass. While Base 100 S.ATK is good, it is lacking against bulkier threats who could sponge a hit and return with a OHKO. In addition, opposing speed buffers and Quick Scarf users can bypass Starmie's stellar speed. Ferrothorn stops Starmie cold, due to its non-piercing special attack and lack of a super effective move. Gastrodon {and to a much lesser extent, Quagsire} can wall Starmie with ease, barring Grass Knot or a surprise Toxic.

Starmie is overall a fantastic veteran that is best suited to guerrilla warfare, taking super effective potshots at the opposing team and cleaning up mines littering its side of the field.

In competitive battling, Starmie is going to be used almost exclusively as a Rapid Spinner. There are other options if you want to throw the opponent off guard or you REALLY want to use Starmie and you already have a spinner, but realistically, Starmie is a spinner, and nothing more.
And it's a good spinner at that, not being weak to Stealth Rock and having some sweet 110 base Speed. Essentially the idea of the set is to switch in, spin, trick or hit something, and switch out.

Rapid Spin is really self-explanatory. Getting rid of the ever-so-common Stealth Rocks and Spikes are always a plus. For water STAB, you have your choice of Hydro Pump for damage, Scald for burns and Surf for reliability. pick your favorite. the 2nd attacking move is a bit up in the air, Psychic gives nice STAB, Psyshock gives it a surprise physical attack option, Thunderbolt gives some good coverage against other waters and Jellicent who would normally block spins. Thunder should really only be used in the rain due to reliability issues. Starmie can also use it's nice speed for tricking setup Pokemon such as Dragon Dancers and Scizor. Doing this gets rid of the choice scarf allowing it to be in there for longer periods of time, but might be outsped from time to time.

In the end, Starmie is a good OU Rapid Spinner that outspeeds most of the competition and can hit pretty hard if it needs to. Starmie however fits in best with a Rain Team, allowing for Hydro Pump and Thunder to be used to their full extent.

Counters: Jellicent is a special wall that also doubles as a ghost, so outside of Electric type moves, Starmie tends to be walled by this thing, and is an often switch in to rapid spins. Ferrothorn absolutely murders Starmie, as in the rain Fire isn't as big of an issue and Power Whip will almost always be an OHKO.

Last edited by Melonhead215; 29th July 2013 at 6:26 AM.

...Well, if you think I'm gonna type my name in some rediculous swirly cursive font, well, that's not happening. At least for now.

In competitive battling, Starmie is going to be used almost exclusively as a Rapid Spinner. There are other options if you want to throw the opponent off guard or you REALLY want to use Starmie and you already have a spinner, but realistically, Starmie is a spinner, and nothing more.

Actually it can be a freaking fantastic wall breaker with Analytic and a Life Orb or Choice Specs. Hydro Pump + Rain + Analytic + Specs is nothing to laugh at. And you can throw LO Recover + 3 Attacks and have a really nice late game cleaner or a Pokemon that just wrecks everything with coverage and power. So many people just think all it's good for is spinning when it really is fantastic at so many other things.

Note for the record: I think that they should have an in-battle ability for 6G that it would make it useful to use like what they did with Stench when introducing 5G.

Countering-OU:
High Sp defense with Electric/Grass/Bug/Ghost/Dark-type moves like Wash Rotom. Other recommendations includes Dusknoir, Gardevoir, Gallade, Crunch Snorlax, or Mismagius.

Got Pokémon X. Intend to get either Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire.
No info about my Friend Safari.
Vivillon Pattern: Polar
Looking for nicknamed, shiny, and/or have a hidden ability in GTS and may battle at anytime.
If interested, send a private message with your ID #.

Analytic as an ability should be considered for offensive sets. Starmie causes many switches and Analytic gives an additional x 1.3 boost to the attack you selected if the opponent switches. So, if you mispredict, you could actually power through potential counters - especially since Starmie gets near unresisted coverage with Thunder(bolt) + Ice Beam so you could slam the counter with the Super Effective attack straight afterwards.

apart from Blissey. Her fatness is generally too much for Starmie to handle.

Gen V blessed Starmie with Psyshock, remember. With Blissey, Snorlax, and Chans-Eviolite running around with their Special bulk, Slamming a STAB Special Move into their low Defense is a huge deal. If it has access to it, always consider Psyshock due to a Special-based attackers' previous Counters and Checks...

Here's an idea that not everyone might have thought of: take advantage of Starmie's high speed combined with its hidden ability Analytic and use it in a Trick Room setting. Because it's so fast, it will most likely go last under Trick Room and so gain the 30% damage boost. It can learn Trick Room itself, or it could have an ally set it up and run Choice Specs to do absurd amounts of damage. Perhaps not so viable due to Starmie's poor HP, but it's the only practical use of Analytic on such a fast Pokemon that I can see (unless Analytic activates when the opponent switches).

The reason no one has mentioned that yet is because Starmie is far too frail to set up Trick Room specifically with the purpose of moving last. Starmie is far better off abusing its high speed.

However, you are correct that Analytic activates when the opponent switches. Offensive Analytic Starmie is a gem that was discovered a little while back as people found that on more offensive sets where Natural Cure is much less useful, Analytic becomes a great ability. Starmie naturally forces a lot of switches, and so a 30% boost on the switch (essentially another Life Orb) can really pack a punch. For example, Life Orb + Analytic + Rain boosted Hydro Pump can knock off over half of 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD Bold Blissey's health. With Analytic, that same Starmie also has a very good shot at 2HKOing specially defensive Jellicent on the switch after Stealth Rock, letting it beat a Pokemon who is ordinarily the best spinblocker in regards to taking on Starmie. Offensive Life Orb sets rarely have a use for Natural Cure since they're more often than not going to spin, maybe throw out a couple of attacks, and then die, and so Analytic becomes a great tool.